Lottery ticket vendors are frequently required to provide cash prizes to holders of winning tickets upon presentation of winning tickets. Normally, for substantial cash prizes, the vendor is required to obtain the assistance of a computer check or a check by some other centralized facility to verify that the ticket presented to him is authentic. To this end, the ticket bears in addition to "the winning number", also a computer verification number or the like. However, this method of verification is only convenient and economical for prizes above a fixed value. In recent years, lottery organizations have introduced increasing numbers of low cash prizes in addition to the large cash prizes, in order to attract a greater number of buyers. Obviously, the temptation exists to alter the numbers on a non-winning ticket to render such an apparent "winning" ticket. It is therefore desirable to provide a relatively tamper-proof ticket bearing self-contained verification features so that the ticket vendor can immediately and simply verify low cash prize tickets.
It has been found that computer printed and numbered tickets can be made which attain a high degree of security. The computer allocated number is cross-referenced to a second printed number and maintained in secrecy within the computer program algorithm itself. However, apparent low cash prize-winning tickets are not normally verified for authenticity by the vendor with the assistance of a computer--such means of verification would be too time-consuming and expensive. In such cases, the visible printed number on the ticket can be fairly easily scraped off and modified so as to present a winning number to permit the holder to falsely claim the prize. It is desirable therefore to provide on the ticket some means by which a vendor without access to a computer or central directory could readily determine whether or not a low-cash-prize ticket had been tampered with.
A game ticket has been designed which conceals information applied to the base sheet of instant prize lottery tickets in order to prevent the vendor of the tickets from selecting winning tickets for his own use while leaving the losing tickets for buyers. This design is used to conceal unknown information from the vendor and purchaser prior to sale. A disadvantage of the design is that it requires an additional back sheet or light-blocking patch attached to the base sheet if the concealed information is applied to the base sheet using impact printing, because the indentation of the paper, produced on impact, would be observable on viewing the back of the ticket. Furthermore, this design requires that the scratch-off coating and the underlying surface of the base sheet be completely opaque and resistant to external viewing means such as a very strong light.
A coded lottery ticket has been designed whereby a verification code is placed on the ticket surface and concealed with a scratch-off coating. When presented with an apparent winning ticket, the vendor removes the scratch-off coating to obtain the code number assigned to the ticket. He then calls upon some external means, such as a master list, to cross-reference the ticket identified with the code in order to verify that the ticket is authentic. This design is used to prevent tampering with the ticket where the coding technique alone is not acceptably secure. The disadvantage of this design is that the vendor is required to reveal the code number and invoke the assistance of a third party or document in order to verify the authenticity of all winning tickets presented to him.